A Quick Transit of Nicaragua...and into Costa Rica!

I wound up spending a relaxing 5 or 6 days in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.  The waves were flat, and I only surfed one day at Playa Madera, and it was by far the crappiest surf I've seen thus far on my travels.  San Juan del Sur (SJDS) is a pretty cool place, lot's of backpackers, a few upscale hotels, and quite a few private houses and estates on the hills surrounding the scenic bay.  I stayed at a little place called Yajure hostel (http://www.yajuresurfhostel.com/), though finding it took some doing, as nobody in town seemed to be aware of the exact location of this relatively new place.  After a couple of hours searching for the place, a helpful security guard offered to ride with me in exchange for cab fare, and I was able to get Nookie stashed safely behind a gate, and promptly got into a heated game of the popular drinking game "asshole" with a handful of Aussies, a couple of Canadians, and two other Americans.

Nookie behind the gate at Yajure surf hostel.

Swaying foot-bridge across the river to town.

The bay at SJDS and some boats anchored.

There's a giant Jesus on the headland above town.

More Jeebus.

Another shot of the bay.

I left SJDS bright and early on Sunday morning and made it to the border by about 9 am.  The border at Penas Blancas between Nicaragua and Costa Rica is a super busy border, with more 18 wheeler trucks and trailers in one place than I've probably ever seen before.  After talking to a couple of them, some spend up to a week just waiting to get clearance to cross the border.  My troubles with the border pale in comparison to that, but I still had some trouble at this one, too.

When I crossed into Nicaragua after my ordeal in Honduras, I apparently was a bit inattentive to my documents, as the border official noted quickly that ONE of my Vehicle's VIN numbers was transposed--an X instead of a K, apparently, and he informed me that was a big problem.  I asked why, when I could clearly show him the correct VIN on my vehicle, and the mistake was clearly on the Nicaraguan border official's end, but he would not be persuaded.  I also had given an Aussie friend a ride down through Nicaragua along with his two surfboards, and my vehicle permit indicated I had 5 boards, but as I left him in SJDS, I now had only 3.  This also proved to be of great interest to the border official, and was informed that the paperwork to clarify it would take all day, or he could handle it himself for $200.  I politely told him to screw himself and went in search of another border official, but to no avail.

I eventually had to slide the guy $30 inside my passport, and all was well and I was quickly out of Nicaragua and on into Costa Rica.  The border there was chaotic, but after 3 separate trips (about a 10 minute walk each way each time) to the insurance office to secure the mandatory coverage for Nookie and my scooter, I was across the border by about 1:30 pm.  Traffic was quite heavy in northern Costa Rica, but I made my way slowly but surely south towards Esterillos.  About dark, I pulled in to Vago's restaurant on the beach, got a friendly welcome from a few old friends, and had a great meal and a couple of beers.  I had intended to get in town before dark, but the border slowed me down.  In the rain, I made my way to my friends Eric and Grettel's place, and parked Nookie in front while I enjoyed a comfortable bed, A/C, cable TV, and great hospitality for the next 6 days.

I've since moved my rig down to the beach and wake each day to the sound of breaking waves and the sun rising over the beach.  Pretty sweet.  On the second or third day, I went with a few guys to a break near the port.  It was about a 30 minute walk in, and word is this place can really hold some swell.  On this day, the waves were a bit small, probably waist to maybe chest high on the sets, but it was a fun day of logging with a good group of guys.  Some pics below.

Walking in to the point.

Looking back towards the port.

I'm here in Esterillos with some good people for the next couple of months.  I've been down to Bejuco, Centro, and a few other great spots around the area.  Blog posts may be a bit more sporadic as I'm not going to be traveling as much, but I anticipate events of note to occur.  As always, more to come!!!

Honduras Sucks; Road Blockades in Nicaragua

Picture will be explained below.  Just want this to be the thumbnail for the FB link and don't know how to do so other than putting the pic I want first.

I met Ryan and Eva (referenced in the last post) in Las Flores, and as they were traveling in the same direction as I was, we decided to caravan down together as far as Rivas, Nicaragua.  I also wound up giving a ride to an Aussie surfer named Brendan I previously met in El Tunco bound for San Juan del Sur as well.  Our group set out early on Sunday morning, and made it to the border between El Sal and Honduras around 10:30 or 11 am.

approaching the Honduran border.

I've tried to wrap my head around just how frustrating the crossing was but have failed to find a convincing way to sufficiently capture and convey the gist of the place.  I guess one way to look at it is the money side of things.  It usually costs a bit of money to enter into a new country and bringing a car/vehicle with you also generally requires permission from that country to do so, and again, a bit of money.  I think El Salvador was completely free, Guatemala was about $30, and Mexico required a refundable bond paid via a credit card.  In order to be allowed to cross into and drive across their country, the Honduran border officials required a permit for both Nookie and my scooter; they also required a separate "road tax" for both RV and the moto.  I knew about the expensive vehicle import permit, and can even somewhat understand the requirement for the scooter, but having to shell out nearly $200 to spend only a few hours in the country is pretty ridiculous.  My traveling companions faced similar challenges, as an issue with a questionable "original" car title required a similarly exorbitant payment in order to proceed.  Those guys saw us coming, for sure, but I'm not really sure what the lesson to be learned was.  Honduras sucks, maybe?

I'm nearly positive the "road tax" was a straight lie, but I needed to get across the country, and the border officials seemed willing to refuse me admission all day long, so I had to suck it up.  The country itself, at least the portion I drove across, was unremarkable and the roads were not in very good condition.  We reached the border with Nicaragua at Espino at about 5pm, and a similar, though less intensive (and less expensive) round of bribing went on in order to "expedite" our paperwork.  We crossed into Nicaragua, where there was a much more orderly $12 entry and a similar amount for required government insurance.   Our goal was the town of Somoto, only 20 miles or so from the border.  Just as we exited the border station, the rain came, and came hard.  It was approaching 7pm by now, and pitch black dark.  I dislike driving at night in central America.  The roads are not great, very dark, generally lack any reflectors or painted lines, and people, bicycles, and animals all operate as if we could see them as clearly as if it were daylight.

In any event, we made it to Somoto and to a decent hotel with the assistance of a couple of nice Nica dudes on a motorcycle.  I wondered around the town for a bit, got a bite of dinner, had a Flor de Cana, then called it a night.

Nookie with a garland of flowers at the PanAmericana hotel in Somoto, Nicaragua.

 I was jolted awake at about 6am by what sounded like a truck backfiring or a shotgun blast.  After a few more, I realized they were powerful fireworks of some kind.  Going out on the street it became clear that some youths were launching mortar-stye fireworks out of a welded metal tube in the shape of a giant pistol.  I guess that should have given us something to think about, but we failed to make the connection from those fireworks blasts to what would happen next.

It was a tight fit getting Nookie under the roof of the hotel.  Had to take the kayak off.

We got underway by about 7:30, intent on making a drive across most of Nicaragua down to the town of Rivas as early as possible.  The road was in good shape, it was variably cloudy and cool, and we were making good time when we came across a little trouble in the road.  What we encountered is known as a "trenque" (not sure of the spelling), a sort of hybrid of a political protest and a road block.  There were a series of medium sized rocks spread in a line across the highway, a couple of hundred mostly young guys milling about stopping traffic, and a person sitting on each of the largest of the rocks, effectively stopping traffic in either direction.  I'll have to admit that it was a bit unnerving and intimidating when we first pulled up.  Guys in masks, guys with gun shaped fireworks launchers, guys with baseball bats, guys with logs or big sticks, all walking around, shouting slogans an cheering and jeering and generally being provocative.

Nookie at the front of the line at the roadblock.

More traffic stopped.

The view back towards Nookie.  Lot's of standing around and no answers.

After the first few tense minutes, the collective we (2 gringos, and Aussie, and a Swiss chic) tried to figure out what the hell was going on, and if we could find a way to get through, or how long it might last.  At first, the answers we got were vague; we could get through in a few minutes, we could go around another detour to get south on the InterAmericana highway, or we would be there all day and have to return to Somoto most likely.

We met several nice people who tried to help us on our way, but were unsuccessful.  All the information gathering led me to a couple of ideas about what was going on.  It appeared that the recent presidential elections had stirred up some controversy.  Daniel Ortega recently won reelection, although not without some controversy.  At first I thought maybe the protest was from the loser's camp, but we saw lot's of FSLN shirts, which is Ortega's party.  I guess that maybe this was some sort of counter protest in support of Ortega meant to garner attention in the media to distract from the election controversy, or perhaps just to piss off the other guys' supporters by identifying them at the roadblock and not letting them through, or some combination of both.

We did become more comfortable with the crowd, mugging for some pictures with us, and having some interesting conversations.  Most of the youths were harmless, and at one point I had 5 or 6 of them on top of Nookie mugging for the crowd.  Eventually, after about 3 hours, at some signal unforeseen to us, a couple of the guys got up off their rocks, moved them aside, then waived Nookie and Ryan's Datsun through, before replacing the rocks behind us.  I had to stop about 100 yards up the road when an old school looking character and his little posse of youngsters stepped in front of Nookie and demanded a few cordobas for "respect".  I found a 20 cord note and we were finally through and clear of all the mess.

 It was clear sailing to Managua where we got seriously lost during a torrential downpour.  But we stopped at a gas station to check the map, talked with a guy in a work truck stopped beside us, and wound up paying him $5 bucks to ride with us to get us on the right track.  It was a circuitous route through Managua centro, but we made it out, on the road for Granada, and eventually made it to Rivas by sunset.

I bid farewell to our traveling companions, and made the 30 minute or so drive down into San Juan del Sur, where I plan to hang out a bit, recharge both Nookie's and my batteries, then head on down into Costa Rica.  I'll explore Nicaragua more next spring when I head back north, at least that's the plan now.

I'm heading for a surf in a minute at Playa Madera with a couple of Aussies I met here at the hotel in a few minutes.  As always, more to come!!!

Saw this sign several times.  Open to suggestions for comment on this one.

Leaving Las Flores

Another ten days or so slipped quickly and quietly by in the comely El Salvadoran hamlet of Las Flores.  The waves were good to great and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Cool nights--down in the mid 70's--yielded to crystal clear bluebird skies, light offshore winds, and an early entry in the water to capitalize on the consistent head-high peeling right-hand waves off the point.

Sunrise surf at Las Flores.

There were more people around the spare campground this time around.  We had 2 of the 4 Canadians I brought down from El Tunco, Chris, Kelli, and Kim from around the same area, and Ryan and Eva, en route back down to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica in an older Datsun pickup.  Evenings brought some good food, quite a few beers and shots of Flor de Cana, a ridiculously bright near-full moon, and even a fire or two on the beach.

Packed up and leaving across the beach at Las Flores

Progress, as they say, is inevitable, and my progression entails another  couple of border crossings, including what has variously been described as a shithole, pinche pot-holed piece of shit country, and a few other choice monikers.  I'm headed across the remainder of of eastern El Salvador, into and across Honduras, thence into Nicaragua and down the coast to San Juan del Sur.

Volcano on the way to San Miguel, El Salvador

Next up:  Honduras earns its reputation and Nookie gets involved in some political unrest in Nicaragua...  As always, more to come!

Back to Las Flores, with company

After my quick but fun jaunt up to the Dominican Republic for my buddy Hunter's wedding, I winged it back to El Salvador to check on Nookie to make sure she had survived my absence.  As always, Porfirio and the folks at La Guitarra took good care of her, and after a day of catching upon sleep, decided to make my way back to Las Flores, the place I posted about just a week or so ago.

While I was chilling in El Tunco, I met a few people, as one often does, in that type of town.  A couple from Canada named Kathleen and Greg were talking with me when I revealed that I was planning to head to Las Flores.  They were hoping to make the trip as well, so I told them they could ride along in Nookie.  The morning we were leaving we all had breakfast at a little place across the street from the hostel, and wound up talking to another Canadian couple who were also looking to get to Las Flores.  So I wound up cramming 4 other people, their big backpacks, and 2 more surfboards into Nookie for the trip down.

We showed up in Las Flores and the waves were great, Nookie resumed her station under the palm trees, and life slowed down even more.  A couple of days into my stay, a Chilean and an Argentinian move in to camp in our little compound as well.  Matiaz and Diego arranged for the 7 of us to go out fishing the next morning.  Our captain Miguel didn't speak much English, but with 2 South Americans on board, we were set.  The fishing was pretty slow--several jack crevalles and one nice big Mackerela, but it was great to see the coast from offshore, and we wound up having a big fiesta and grilling the Mackerela and feeding most of the area.  Another group (Chris, Kelli, and Kim) showed up from near La Libertad and we had a good couple of days of surfing followed by a nice fire on the beach under a nearly full moon.  My pics from that evening didn't turn out, (actually I forgot to bring out my camera, but there were many others around and I hope to see some from those nights) but here's one from the fishing trip:

Matiaz, capitan Miguel, Diego, Brett, and Zoe.

Yet another couple showed up in camp a few days ago, Ryan and Eve, on their way back from the US to their home in one of my favorite places, Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.  They've been a blast, and I think I'm going to caravan with them across Honduras and into Nicaragua sometime this weekend.   Things are going great, the weather has been perfect, and there hasn't been hint of rain for at least a week.  The nights have been relatively cool--in the mid 70's--and the people and surf couldn't be much better.

The point from the water.  Nookie is behind the big palapa you can see if you zoom in on the pic.

Good spot for breakfast and a little internet

I'm writing this from a hotel up the hill from where I'm staying about 200 steps up from the beach.    A nice batch of banana pancakes, some coffee, and decent wifi. It costs quite a bit more to stay here than the $5 per night I'm paying on the beach, but I get to poach this view for an hour or so while I drink some coffee and write this blog.  The plan is still to be in Costa Rica before Thanksgiving, so I'l be picking up my pace a bit.  As always, more to come!!!